Shadow the Hedgehog: 100 Theme Challenge
by cynda1
Summary: I'm starting the 100 theme challenge with Shadow the Hedgehog. These are drabbles of one-shots that have something directly, or indirectly to do with Shadow. Take a look, and you might see something you like. Rating might change, but I don't know. I'm trying to be as creative as possible with this, so take a look! Love is uploaded.
1. 001 Introduction

My story begins in darkness. This scenario is rather familiar. I've been like this for many years, though I never stopped thinking about the same thing all this time. I have been torturing myself with the same, horrifying memory. My final memory on the Ark. The death of my only friend, Maria. My plan was in motion over and over in my head, and I always found thinking about the planet's demise fulfilling. It gave me the little joy I had left to receive, but the pain of knowing that Maria would never be able to visit the beautiful, yet sinister planet would always haunt me. Never to stop haunting me...

The darkness came to an end when I heard someone outside of my chamber. But that could only mean that either I was dreaming, or I was being awaken. The more time passed, and the more I felt my body begin to function, I became more aware that my slumber was over at last. And now my plan of vengence could finally begin. I slowly sat up, like a zombie would, being surprisingly unused to being awake. Have I really been out for that long? Whatever the case, my eyes shot open, alert at all my surroundings. I traced my gaze to the key board next to me where a man that looked like a younger, but fatter, Professor Gerald stood. What I recognized from him was the orange features on his face. This was Gerald's psychotic grandson...

...How convenient...

At first glance, the Doctor didn't seem very pleased to see me. A scowl formed on his face, and I began to think that he may be a problem rather than a solution. However, that changed when he said: "Blast it! Is that you, Sonic? Are you here to spoil my plans again?!" He slammed his fist on his giant machine, but then I could see a change in his face. He clearly saw that he was mistaken. "Wait a minute. You're not Sonic! This is impossible!"

I formed a smirk on my face. Obviously he didn't know who I was. With me around, there was no such thing as impossible. "My name is Shadow," I said calmly, as if nothing could possibly irk me. "Because you were so kind to release me, my Master," I paused for dramatic affect! "I shall grant you one wish."

That was when the alarm starting blaring more than it already was. Hm, funny. I didn't really notice the alarm. Guess I was thinking too much. Whatever the case, the Doctor didn't seem too pleased when he heard a giant mechanical foot stomp on the ground. He seemed flustered, but I wasn't bothered one bit. In fact, I was rather pleased. Now I could shed some light on just who I am. "Now what?!" he growled as if he already been through enough problems.

My smirk grew oh so very slightly. Just as I thought. Things seemed to be going perfectly for me. There was no reason why he wouldn't want my help for world 'domination' I'll allow him to believe. Buttering him up, making him think that he's the boss... This will be perfect. "Behold," I casually called out. "The true power I possess!" In a flash of light, I used my jet shoes to hover to the foe.

Unfortunately, the fight wasn't as sectacular as I'd like it to be. Oh, I won. But the bot was so pathetic, I won without even trying. The fight was so easy that I didn't even need to use my powers. This was a lame fight. Well, actually, the Doctor was amazed at my ability to defeat the guard bot. Hmph. Seemed to me like he was far too easy to impress, but whatever the case, this only confirmed that I could easily manipulate this fool. He's a human just like the rest. He will meet the same fate that I have in store for the humans, even if he's related to my creator. "Destroying that gaurd robot was spectacular!" he praised in pure amazement. "So Shadow, you are the military's top secret weapon. But what did you meant when you said that you would grant me a wish?"

What a fool...

"Bring more Chaos Emeralds." I commanded, ignoring his question. My smirk returned

"Shadow, wait!" he commanded, but I continued to ignore it.

"I'll be waiting for you, in the control room of the Space Colony Ark." With that I walked away, paying him no heed, or even a glance when he barked out "Ark?!" I simply kept walking away from the Doctor, leaving him to wonder what it is I had in mind. He once again slammed his keyboard like a child having a temper tantrum, but I wasn't fazed. If he could figure out how to release me, a 'Top Secret Weapon,' then he could figure out what to do next himself. If not, then he wasn't worth my time.

While he went in one direction, I went another. I was in search of any Chaos Emerald, like how I told the Doctor to collect, but in doing so, I was causing a lot of comotion. Police cars were everywhere, but I always remained out of reach. Not only that, but for some reason they were reluctant to attack and make an arrest. They weren't reluctant before, so why were they now? Lucky for them, I ignored this, and continued my search. Unfortunately for them, they held a Chaos Emerald in a bank, and that's how they began this chase.

After making my way through the city, my instincts told me that there was another Emerald resting inside another machine. What was more was that I could tell that it was a machine meant to fight. That would be a total waste of my time, but I needed that emerald, and nothing was gonna keep me from getting it.

However, when I found the bot, I was shocked to see a familiar figure facing the bot. Not familiar, as in I've seen him, but familiar as I've seen him in my own reflection. I thought I was looking at myself, but then I remembered the Doctor mentioning an individual that he had mistaken me to be. At first I was enraged. This ameteur is trying to pose as me?! He couldn't even compare to me! I kept on burying myself in these thoughts until I saw his fighting skills. He wasn't too shabby of a fighter, but it was clear to me that I was the better fighter.

I watched the fight, and simply waited for the perfect moment to strike. This robot was weaker than Hot Shot, which was a dumb move of the humans, but I could tell that the blue hedgehog was rather calm about this battle. Nothing seemed to faze him. I was about to change that. He smirked at the srap of metal that was piled on the street, and that's when I decided to appear. The eyes of the young hero popped when he saw me, but I acted as if I didn't notice him. "It all starts with this," I stated raising up a green Chaos Emerald that I stole from the robot. "A jewel containing the ultimate power!"

The blue hedgehog dared to take a step closer to my location. Interesting. He seemed to be more courageous than the average person. In that sense I was impressed, but nothing else did. "That's the...Chaos Emerald!" he stated the obvious in shock, while I simply pretended I never saw him. After a few moments of just staring at the magnificent jewel, I heard him approaching more, but didn't pay him any mind until he spoke. "Now I know what's going on!" That was when I turned to him. "The military has mistaken me for the likes of you!" This was the first time the two of us had a good look at each other. There was only one feeling that was coursing through our inner beings: hatred. We loathed each other in that very first moment, and I couldn't wait to see him in ashes. "So," he continued. "Where do you think you're going with that Emerald?"

I simply kept my intense glare on him, imagining him staring at everything he cared about, this planet, everything ripped away from him: just like me, before I end his wreched misery. That thought could've brought a smile on my face, but I wouldn't give him the honor of seeing me smile, so I didn't.

He began running at full speed toward me, the fool. He was clearly enraged. "Say something!" he demanded. "You fake hedgehog!"

I casually tossed the emerald in the air, saying, "Chaos... Control!" The aura around me began to intensify and glow before it consumed me, and I was flying past the cocky young hedgehog, leaving him breathless.

"Woah," he yelped. "He's fast! Hey, it's not his speed. He must be using his Chaos Emerald to warp!" I could tell by his face that he was putting two and two together at his own pace. He was fast in many senses, but he wasn't very dumb. At least, I didn't think he did.

"My name is Shadow," What a shame I gave him the honor of knowing my name. But he'd have to figure out my full name himself. "I'm the world's Ultimate Lifeform." Hey! Now he knows something the Doctor doesn't. "There's not time for games. Farewell!" I was fed up with looking at his face, and oh I wished he didn't look like me so I could call it ugly, because I hated him so intensely, that even thinking about him made me sick. This encounter may have been short, but it would turn out to be the beginning of an intense rivalry, between two powerful hedgehogs. The introduction of him, Sonic the Hedgehog, and I, Shadow the Hedgehog.


	2. 002 Love

Shadow laid in the grass, gazing up at the stars without anything to disturb him. He liked being like this, in such peace and quiet, where no one could, or would, disturb him. He could think about whatever he wanted to here, whether it be past mistakes, recent victories, or his next step to his ultimate goal: world peace. That seems like an impossible goal, but frankly he didn't know the meaning of the word anymore, and it wasn't just because of him either. It was because of his allies... or friends. He honestly didn't know yet, so there was no way he was going to admit this to anyone if he couldn't even admit it to himself.

Shadow sighed. He truly would never see things as he did when he was young ever again... sometimes he wished he could. It didn't matter though... Nothing that came to his mind really mattered, but he thought about it anyway. It made him feel a little better, and, at the moment, that's what really mattered to him. He knew that he would just have to wait for the next mission that he'd have to help with, so might as well enjoy the nice and quiet atmosphere.

After waiting in this silence for several hours, an interesting thought came to mind: what was love? This was strange since he never really thought much about this sort of thing before, but perhaps he was more concerened with if he could feel love rather than what it was. He was an artificial lifeform, so could he really feel love, or anything for that matter, or was it in his imagination? He was rather emotionless most of the time, so maybe because he felt, or seemed to feel, so very infrequently that maybe he could feel love, or anything at all. Whether or not he was an android, he was still a creature created by man.

But then there was still Maria. If he couldn't love, then how come he "felt" so empowered to save others? Well, there had to be some explanation for this. It's not like Gerald could really create something with feelings, right? How would someone even go about making feelings itstelf, much less someone with feelings? It wasn't something that he could really wrap his brain around, but he needed to prove whether he could or not somehow, or this would drive him crazy.

Shadow sighed returning to other thoughts, hoping that this would, in turn, cause him to solve the mystery. How could he prove to himself that he could feel love? Hm... Well, whether or not there was a real reason to, Shadow did save Cream and Cheese from Eggman's evil castle, though he knew he wouldn't really get anything out of it but graditude from Amy and the younger kids. Why did he do this? He must have felt obligated to do it somehow, but how was that even remotely possible?

Then there was Maria's death. Why did that haunt him, hurt him, and torture him so much if he couldn't feel love? Just his memories with her proved that he felt happiness, sadness, anger, even fear at times, and he even described these things to Maria, listening to her description of what the feelings really were. However, once Maria died, he felt less, and found himself feeling absolutely nothing. No remourse for the dark thoughts he had, no compassion for the souls he wanted to crush, and no consideration of what Maria really wanted. Pretty soon, he made himself think, no believe, that Maria really wanted all the inhabinants of Earth to suffer for their sins, but what he didn't realize, or even consider, was that that was what _he_ wanted. He wasn't figthing for what they did for Maria, he was fighting for what they did to him. He didn't realize this before his plan was already complete, in a stage that made it almost impossible to stop its course.

There seemed to be hope, though. Not long after he started his plan, Shadow was caught with a strange decision: whether or not to save a life. It really didn't concern him all that much, at first, but then he seemed to be recalling Maria's face in her final moments. For some reason, even though he was certain that he was going to kill them, Maria's face convinced him to save someone that was going to die anyway. There was no way that it was just because he was programed that way. It had to have been compassion, but was it genuine and real?

That was the first, but certainly not last time, that Shadow felt like he needed to protect Rouge. They seemed to be kindred spirits, both of them tending to work alone, and both having one track minds. Oddly enough, though, they didn't seem to have much of anything else but their goals in common. Actually, the only one that differs more from Shadow than Rouge is Sonic. So what was it about Rouge that made him trust her as a friend? Well, she was one of the few people that he could call his friend and acknowlege to himself that he was telling the truth, and currently the only one that he could call his best friend. The one back track of their strange relationsip was that they only saw each other during missions. All of his relationships were pretty much strictly professional. No one talked to him out side of missions, no one visited him unless they needed his assistance, and no one gave him calls just to say 'hi' or make small talk. Not that it bothered him, or anything...

Of course, 'no one' isn't quite a true statement. What I really should say is, 'no one, but Sonic'. The arch-rival of Shadow was an interesting fellow, and one that the Ultimate Life Form, no matter how hard he tried, could undestand this blue hedgehog. Sometimes, they were on the same page. That happened more often than not nowadays, but when they disagreed on something, they could never be subtle about it. He had to wonder why Sonic would say the things he'd say, or do the things he'd do. One of those things was that he was so concerned for Shadow. During the course of the Black Arm invasion, Sonic never stopped asking if he remembered anything, if he was feeling okay, if he wanted to have a 'friendly compitition' and what not. Of course, Shadow always reacted the same way, and he thought for sure that it would always be that way.

Well, for the most part it is, but there was one time when Shadow thought that maybe, just maybe, Sonic might have been on to something. This occured when he encountered Silver for the first time. It was clear to him that the white hedgehog was out for Sonic's blood, and despite the voices in Shadow's head telling him that his rival was tough, and that he could handle himself, the black hedgehog couldn't let the white stranger do this to his rival. He saved his rival's life that day, and not only that, but he also convinced Silver that Mephiles was fooling him, and that Sonic wasn't the enemy. But the thing was, he had absolutely no reason to be there in the first place other than to help Sonic. If he hadn't been there, he wouldn't have been aware that Silver was being deceived had it not been for the encounter with Sonic.

But why was he so rational in most situations, only making actions that furthered his goal, and in these situation, he was going completely out of his way to help people that were completely irrelevent to my missions. If they were, he was lucky, but most of them weren't. What other reason could he have to save them? Did he really care about them that deeply? Then how come this was so hard for him to wrap his mind around? He always thought that this would be a straight forward problem with a straight foward solution, but it didn't turn out that way. Was that what love was? Doing things that seemed completely irrelevent to you, but crutial to those you cared about?

Shadow smiled gently at the dark night sky. Maybe he'd never know for sure, but one thing he did know was that this group of heroes, though not perfect, and yes he didn't see them as much as normal teams do, but they, at the very least, accepted him. Not many people did that. They accepted him for who he was, what he looked like, what his burdens were, whether they knew them or not, and for whatever it was he was gonna be. They questioned his actions and motives, but only out of concern of his well being, and they'd never abandon him if they needed him. So, how could he ever even think of doing that to them? There is an answer to that question: he wouldn't. Not ever. He'd always do whatever it took to protect them, and to make sure that they were ready for whatever life threw at them. He would sacrifice anything to make sure they didn't end up with the miserable life he ended up with, even if it would end up making him even more miserable than he already was.

Maybe, just maybe, that is what love really is.


End file.
